3 Answers
3

if you are only interested in extracting Content Types, page layouts etc. you can point directly to <yoursite>/_layouts/savetmpl.aspx just remember that using it to provision a site is not supported and most likely will be broken
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Anders RaskOct 7 '11 at 21:05

@AndersRask - not true any more, as of Sp2013
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Kieren JohnstoneJun 21 '13 at 7:48

How to handle this? - Web Templates is your answer - Build web templates, include the required SharePoint features and custom features - custom features can be used to build the site with default content which can be the default pages, default lists, assigning the default master page etc., etc.,